More than a year after the shutdown of the westbound span of the Washington Bridge, serious accountability questions remain unanswered. In our new series, Breaking Point: The Washington Bridge, we’ll be exploring those questions — including questions from you — in the months to come. To help us start, “Rhode Island PBS Weekly” co-host and reporter Michelle San Miguel dug into the most common question we’ve heard from you: who’s responsible for the Washington Bridge Crisis?
What do we know about who’s responsible?
Michelle San Miguel:
So, if you were to ask the state — and I did — where does the accountability lie, they would tell you that they have this lawsuit against 13 companies that provided design, construction and inspection services. As we know, lawsuits take time to play out, and we don’t know how long this lawsuit will take before it’s adjudicated. But also, what responsibility does RIDOT, the Rhode Island Department of Transportation, bear in this?
When I asked that question of the governor’s spokeswoman Olivia DaRocha, it was a bit of a non-answer. She said that the state is pursuing legal action against parties whom it believes bear significant responsibility for the bridge failure. But again, the state is not suing itself. It can’t sue itself. So, it’s a question I posed to a few lawmakers.
‘RIDOT bears the ultimate responsibility’
San Miguel: I spoke with Representative June Speakman (D), who represents Bristol and Warren, parts of the state that are on the east side of the bridge. She said, look, Michelle, at the end of the day, RIDOT bears the ultimate responsibility because if you are contracting with outside vendors, it’s your job to make sure that those vendors are delivering on what they say that they are doing.
I also spoke with Senate Minority Leader Jessica de la Cruz (R). She echoed what Speakman said: RIDOT is the watchdog – it’s incumbent upon them to make sure that the state is being good stewards of taxpayer dollars.
We’re pressing for accountability. I asked to speak to the governor multiple times and he declined an interview. But again, we want to make sure that whatever system RIDOT has in place, not only for this bridge but for all bridges — the buck has to stop with them.
On transparency in the legislature
San Miguel: The state had an oversight committee hearing back in February. It was a joint hearing with the Senate Oversight Committee and the House Oversight Committee. Right at the onset, we had State Senator Mark McKenney (D) basically say that the issues related to the causation and that accountability aspect, those questions were off limits.
When you hold a public hearing and limit the type of questions that can be asked, how fair is that to the taxpayers?
What’s being done to ensure proper inspection of the Washington Bridge and our other state bridges?
San Miguel: It’s a question I posed to the governor’s spokeswoman Olivia DaRocha. She said that RIDOT has added additional bridge engineering staff to its bridge inspection program. The eastbound Washington Bridge that was reconfigured to get traffic moving in both directions went from being inspected every two years to now every six months. She also told me they identified and inspected all complex bridge structures statewide.
Should the public be concerned about other bridges?
San Miguel: The governor’s spokeswoman assured me the design of that bridge was so unique. There’s no other bridge in the state that was designed that way. She’s trying to make it clear that it’s not something that the public should be worried about.
You can watch and read more of Michelle San Miguel’s reporting on accountability for the Washington Bridge crisis here.
This story is part of Breaking Point: The Washington Bridge, a community-centered project from Rhode Island PBS and The Public’s Radio.
Do you have a question or a story about the Washington Bridge? Tell us here.
